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2008 Tremblant Canada Cup

June 4, 2008

Published by ---alex---

1. Andrew Mitchell (Cove) – 4:26.85
2. Mathieu Laurin (Lama Cycles) – 4:27.11
3. Guillaume Soucy-Alarie (Lama Cycles) 4:39.76
4. Andy Thibodeau (Gravite Sports) – 4:39.81
5. Ewan Fafard – 4:39.85
6. Dan Skogland (Cove) – 4:39.94
7. Hans Lambert (Norco Factory Team) – 4:41.35
8. Samuel Vallee (Valley Racing Team) – 4:41.98
9. Stephan Mailhot (Gravite Sports) – 4:42.03
10. Antoine Larose (Xprezo) – 4:42.28

Womens Results:
1. Danice Uyesugi(Pinkbike.com) – 5:30.30
2. Miranda Miller (Mad March Racing) – 5:35.53
3. Kim Huard – 5:46.29
4. Sophie Poirier (Devinci) – 6:26.77
5. Genevieve Gagnon (Gravitesse) – 6:34.63
6. Sheila Morris (Cycle Solutions/Angry Johnny's Racing) – 6:39.92
7. Anne Laplante (Grounded) – 6:40.16
8. Claudia Paquin – 6:45.32
9. Emilie Audet – 7:04.79
10. Mylene Kim Fortier (FH Racing) – 7:16.77

Well if you read my Bromont recap and were wondering for yourself what happened to all the snow from our near record breaking winter, I now have the answer. It turns out that Tremblant was hoarding it all. Despite having incredible riding weather with sun forecast and temperatures in the mid twenties, when riders arrived for Friday's training session they weren't greeted by the dust that he had at Bromont last weekend. No, instead the majority of the ground was saturated with the runoff from the final stand of winter as the creeks ran fiercly while the final piles of snow slowly faded away.

As Tremblant hasn't allowed downhill mountain biking on their mountain since around 2001, there has been no trail development done and as expected the race organizing committee didn't have anything new for us this year. Not only was the course the exact same as previous years, but this time the ground was much softer letting you know just how flat most of it is. Tremblant has always been a course that separates out riders based on conditioning as much as technique, but this year the slow rolling conditions further amplified this.

I have been racing the Tremblant Canada Cup and Quebec Cup events since 2000 and I would have to say that this weekend had the weakest turn out and quietest spectators that I have ever seen. It was almost silent for most of the course, only passing by course marshals as you descended. Perhaps this is what happens when you come to a golf town rather than a biking destination. Compared to the atmosphere at Bromont where even if it wasn't everyone's favorite track, most riders seemed to be having a good time, the atmosphere at Tremblant was rather bleak during most of the training sessions. It is really too bad as Tremblant has the resources to be a top destination for cycling in eastern Canada. Unfortunately until they start to put some effort into improving the course, it will continue to be an event that gets less than a great response from most of the competitors. It is no wonder that so many Canadians made the trek down to Diablo, NJ for the US Open event rather than staying at home and competing in the second stop of the Canada Cup series.

The few spectators on the side of the course

Come Sunday the sun finally started to slightly dry out the course and by race time many of the sloppy mud sections had transformed into firmer but deeply grooved lines and the messy rocky sections in the woods were worn away leaving big baby head rocks separated by many big nasty holes. At the end of the day the few spectators who made the journey up the mountain were treated to all sorts of interesting lines through sections, some high speed riding and many spectacular spills. In the end it was Cove rider Andrew Mitchell who set the fastest time of the day aboard his bright orange Shocker. In second place was Mathieu Laurin (Lama Cycles/Morewood) and rounding out the top three was Guillaume Soucy (Lama Cycles/Morewood). On the women's side it was PinkBike.com/Devinci rider Danice Uyesugi who narrowly beat out Miranda Miller, Canada's top Junior aged rider. In third in the womens side was Kim Huard.